Sunday, September 30, 2012

I LOVE HALLOWEEN. Other than Christmas (presents!) it's my favorite holiday of the year. I love any excuse to dress up, and so it's no surprise I go all out for Halloween. I usually start formulating my idea in September so that I have plenty of time to execute my vision. Because I go ALL out. I'm talking cases of plastic Christmas ornaments and custom-printed fabric all out.

My elaborate costumes started in 2009 with Lady Gaga. I was obsessed with the bubble dress and I knew that I had to make it for myself.

It took one nude leotard, a case of clear plastic Christmas ornaments, a blonde wig, sunglasses, and a crystal necklace. I'm sure there's a special place in hell for me cutting apart a vintage crystal necklace to glue onto sunglasses, but I had to do it.
It paid off because I won $150 in a costume contest!

I could not sit or pee in the thing. Not the most practical costume!

The next year, I was still pretty obsessed with Gaga. I kept running through ideas (Mommie Dearest? Too done. Sunmaid Raisin girl? Boring) and the one thing that kept coming into my mind was the meat dress.

Thanks to Spoonflower, it all came together. Surprisingly, there isn't a huge market for meat fabric. I wonder why not? Ha. I could only find novelty prints of like, bacon or cheeseburgers. So I uploaded a picture of flank steak and ordered a yard. It was expensive, so I supplemented a little bit with some red chiffon.

I LOVED this costume. I felt really great in it. No costume contest that year, but no biggie. I do it because I love it.

Last year I was lame and went as the Morton Salt Girl. I just couldn't get any ideas together.

This year, I started thinking about my costume in March. My obsession with Hunger Games is well-documented, and I walked out of the movie and declared I was going as Effie Trinket this year.

Unfortunately I could not find the exact fabric, so I am making do with a brocade in a different color scheme from Joann's. I made a prototype of the bodice this morning using various pattern pieces. I knew it needed to be a bodice with princess seams, and I actually found a New Look pattern with the same sleeves!

Yes, my dress form wears a bra. I couldn't get the bust size right.

I'm pretty happy with the way the muslin turned out. It fits great and looks pretty close to the original. The brocade is way thicker than the sheet I used, so the sleeves won't be so limp.
I've got everything done on the bodice but the hem, armhole facings, and collar. It's coming together nicely!

The front will be slashed out - I just left it whole for ease of working with.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

After my last disaster with my Sewaholic Alma pattern, I was ready to get in there and give it another shot and see if the problem was with the pattern or the flimsy fabric I tried to use. It just so happened that my Mom's birthday was coming up, and I needed to get her a gift. I've never sewed anything for someone else before, so I thought I'd give it a try! I gave her two fabrics to choose from: a melon colored gauze and a pink and white floral rayon, both from Vogue Fabrics. She picked the floral (which I knew she would, she has a Coach purse in the exact color scheme!) and sent me her measurements. Luckily they weren't too far off from my own, so I only had to make minor adjustments.

I texted her and said "what are your feelings on collars?" and she wrote back "no". Haha. Okay, no collar it is. I don't think my mom is the peter pan collar type, anyway. She's more flashy than me.

I'm not going to lie, I had a little trouble parting with it! The fabric was so soft and pretty and since it was a gift, I did an extra good job of making sure everything looked nice.

Since Mom doesn't like collars, I sewed on a few shells to bling up the neckline. She likes shells and beaches and tropical locations, so it's perfect for her.

We were up in Minocqua on vacation last weekend (more on that later!) so she got a chance to wear it out to dinner. Doesn't she look cute? I love her complimentary shell accessories!